Frenchtown Elementary School adds fourth tree to Arbor Day row along school grounds

FRENCHTOWN — National Arbor Day is the last Friday of April, but scheduling conflicts made June 6 the day Frenchtown Elementary School planted its 2013 tree.

A speech for the ceremony was written by eighth-grader Kyle Alleger and delivered by his classmate Rayannah Wargaski.

"For the younger kids who don't know," Rayannah told students who gathered around a hole dug for the maple along a row of trees planted in other years, "today we celebrate Arbor Day.

"Arbor Day is a day where we, at Frenchtown School, plant a tree in this very spot. Arbor Day is celebrated in many places because trees are so important to us. Like other plants, trees supply us with oxygen which we breathe in to live."

"It's cool to know that in a few years this tree will grow just like we grow. While we grow we get to see and learn cool new things. So as you take your next breath, think about how important trees are and through the years take a second out of your day and look at the trees and see how they changed."

After Rayannah's speech, Principal David Bailey helped Kyle set the tree in the ground, then other students added water and packed soil around the root ball.

The new tree is the fourth in a row of Arbor Day trees planted along the southern border of the school.

Soon, Bailey told the students, it will be as big as the others.

Arbor Day trees are donated to Hunterdon County schools by the county, according to Bailey.